IBM DOORS vs Jira comparison

IBM and Atlassian are both solutions in the Application Requirements Management category. IBM is ranked #1 with an average rating of 7.4, while Atlassian is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.4. IBM holds a 32.9% mindshare in ARM, compared to Atlassian’s 15.5% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of Atlassian users who would recommend it.

IBM DOORS

Read 55 IBM DOORS reviews

7,104 Views
2,421 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

Jira

Read 274 Jira reviews

3,154 Views
1,686 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

IBM DOORS

Jira

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 20, 2025

IBM DOORS and Jira operate within the project management and requirements management categories. While IBM DOORS is known for optimizing large-scale requirements and traceability, Jira offers flexibility in project management, particularly for agile methodologies. IBM DOORS has an advantage in requirements engineering due to its emphasis on customization and traceability, whereas Jira stands out for agile project management with its modular functionalities and ease of use.

Features:IBM DOORS is distinguished by its robust traceability, customization through the Dynamic Extension Language (DXL), and comprehensive requirements analysis. It facilitates intricate requirements traceability and offers extensive audit capabilities. Meanwhile, Jira excels in agile project management, providing essential issue tracking, extensive integration options, and the ability to customize workflows to suit agile methodologies.

Room for Improvement:IBM DOORS can be difficult to use, with a steep learning curve, and its proprietary database sometimes limits integration. Efforts to enhance user-friendliness are ongoing with DOORS Next Generation. Jira's flexibility can lead to complex customization challenges and occasional performance issues. Moreover, its native reporting and requirement management integrations would benefit from further enhancement.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service:IBM DOORS typically involves on-premises or private cloud deployment, accommodating stable data control. Its customer service has been inconsistent but has seen improvements. Jira offers cloud, hybrid, and on-premises deployments, appealing to diverse organizational needs. While its support responds well, price negotiations can be challenging during transitions.

Pricing and ROI:IBM DOORS is often perceived as costly, especially for large-scale deployments, but shows significant ROI through enhanced requirements management. Jira presents a more affordable model for small and medium-sized teams but can grow expensive with additional plugins. Its ROI is enhanced by its adaptability, excelling in agile and fluid project management methodologies.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM DOORS vs. Jira Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM DOORS vs. Jira

June 2025

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Helped 857,162 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

IBM DOORS

Ranking in Application Requirements Management

1st

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Jira

Ranking in Application Requirements Management

2nd

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

274

Ranking in other categories

Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites (1st), Project Management Software (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Application Requirements Management category, the mindshare of IBM DOORS is 32.9%, down from 34.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Jira is 15.5%, down from 15.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Requirements Management

Featured Reviews

SHRINIVAS ALAGERI

Architect at itcinfotech

Offers a well-refined ASPICE template and satisfying requirement management features

IBM DOORS effectively synchronizes with Polarion. But suppose when Polarion is running on Linux and you want to integrate with IBM DOORS on Windows, that is when compatibility issues arise. For the aforementioned issue we often receive advise in our company to migrate Polarion to Windows before integration. IBM DOORS is a heavy-duty application compared to competitors such as PTC Integrity. Exporting an IBM DOORS module is highly time-consuming for its bulkiness. PTC Integrity is a lighter solution that allows the development of a gateway template. It's crucial to consider the use cases and the other vendors that need to be integrated before using IBM DOORS. Our company is a PTC competence center, so most of our customers are from PTC. The customer integrations our company deals with include modeling tools such as Simulink, MATLAB, and Integrity Modeler to synchronize documents. The digital threat maintenance between IOD and Windchill is also a crucial part of our organization's operations. The solution should be more compatible with thin clients, there should be focus on web-based clients who can be more effective in IBM DOORS. At our company, we don't want every customer to use the thick client format with the solution. I would like to witness the seamless integration of IBM DOORS with Windchill in the future version. The integrations in IBM DOORS should be web-based, I don't prefer to use multiple plug-ins. For example, I want to integrate IBM DOORS with MATLAB, Simulink and Jenkins effortlessly which is possible in Codebeamer. I want every feature of Codebeamer to be present in IBM DOORS in the future releases.

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AmitUbale

Assistant General Manager at ICICI Bank

Efficient project management that's comprehensive and and helps with time efficiency

We use Jira primarily for project management within the organization. It helps us manage tasks, bug management, and tracking tickets effectively. We assign tickets to individual team members and track them easily For project management, Jira has helped facilitate efficient task segregation and…

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"I really like the customization that can be done using the DOORS Extension Language (DXL)."

"The shell scripting is the solution's most valuable aspect."

"The data logs are ver conveneint."

"Makes good work of prioritizing and planning product delivery."

"I really enjoyed the API."

"This product can help improve how your organization proceeds through solution development."

"IBM DOORS has a well-refined ASPICE template"

"Very customizable and can be as powerful as you want it to be."

More IBM DOORS pros

"The scrum dashboard is the product's most important feature. It provides an overview of tasks, who is working on what, and the status of each task."

"The ability to change and rewrite tasks is valuable. You can add a lot of columns, change the owners and the change the components."

"It was very easy to learn Jira. As a scrum master, I run daily stand-ups, and they are run directly from Jira. The feature that I really love in Jira is called Issue Navigator. It allows me to customize how I want to show the user stories within Jira to my squad."

"I've never had a bug or a bug message that I needed to open a ticket for."

"It also works well with all the integrated tools that you buy."

"I have experience with Jira's bulk tracking and issue management. We use it to add new features to our product, fix bugs, and address customer feedback."

"We like team collaboration and cross-functional collaboration."

"The timeline management is great."

More Jira pros

Cons

"Complexity, performance, openness are the three areas that can be improved. The IBM architecture and specifically Jazz looks more complex. There are a lot of servers. It's quite complicated. The search capabilities lack in IBM Rational DOORS Classic for customers who have a database with a requirement of more than 25,000 records. For example, you can search easily for a module, but it's really difficult to look for keywords through the whole database because all the modules are separated into small components, which makes the search quite complex. This is something that's really annoying because when we want to make an impact analysis, we would like to analyze the product globally. It's quite difficult to manage. The fact that you can interact externally with data makes it complex. The approach is complex and doesn't work as expected. For example, when I tried to experiment with exporting some records, the tool crashed, but I couldn't find out the root cause, that is, whether it happened because of Rational Windows or lack of memory. It was just crashing. Logs weren't very clear. IBM can try to use more recent technology for different aspects and make it easy. They can also provide free integration from DOORS Classic to DOORS. Currently, all the customization in Excel is lost, which makes it very complex. It would be a feature to make new versions compatible with features in the past versions."

"The web application DOORS Web Access doesn't have the same functionality as the standard client, so it's not a real substitute. For example, web Access only provides writing requirements, but you can't do much more with it."

"It used to be very clunky."

"The low performance of the solution is probably because it is quite an old tool."

"There are problems with communicating between DOORS and Microsoft Office."

"One of the things that many people complain about is it's hard to manage attributes. For example, tables or figures. This is something that can be improved."

"IBM DOORS should cover all engineering functions seamlessly, not just requirement engineering."

"It would have been ok ten years ago, but we are used to having better tools now."

More IBM DOORS cons

"The Classic UI is a little bit messy. UX experience is also a little bit messy and is not according to the expectation of a tech user."

"Could offer an improved user experience."

"Something I would like to see improved is the traceability feature. When you have a user story, if you can see all the test cases, it would be an improvement if you could see any design documents or any change management."

"Its UI can be improved a little bit. I know this a business tool and not a commercial tool, but it could be a little bit more interactive like the HP ALM/Quality Center, which provides you the results of graphs and gives you a lot of visual representations. I feel Jira lacks a little bit in this aspect."

"There is a difficulty viewing all the attachments because they are shown in one place. I would like attachments to be shown at the comment level."

"I have had problems with performance and unresponsiveness. All of a sudden, the performance slowed down, and I had a number of users that could not use the tool."

"We have gone through several version changes and some of those changes have not been intuitive. There was a learning curve and we had some complaints internally about the changes, such as the new interface."

"The reports in Jira can be improved, especially for test reports. I find it difficult to customize and integrate for different testing purposes."

More Jira cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I would rate the pricing a seven out of ten, with one being very affordable and ten being quite expensive."

"We have to pay for a license. I think it's a one-time payment as my company hasn't notified me about more charges. I don't think it's expensive for large corporations, but it will be costly for an average person."

"The licensing costs for the product are quite high."

"IBM DOORS is available at a reasonable price"

"I am not sure why it is so expensive, but one license will cost approximately $15,000 in US dollars."

"The licensing cost is too high."

"It is expensive to onboard additional users."

"It's expensive."

More IBM DOORS pricing and cost advice

"The tool's pricing is reasonable."

"I don't have the number, but I sure wish Jira was less expensive. Its price point should be a little lower, and it should be more flexible for users who are just ticket viewers."

"I think the starter pack of three users, up to five users, is free. So you can try it out."

"Its price is good and similar to other products. It is about five or six dollars per user."

"The cost is about $10 per user, per month."

"The price is quite competitive."

"I don't feel that price is an issue."

"We are a regional research and education institute. We're using the free license provided for educational institutes."

More Jira pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

27%

Computer Software Company

Aerospace/Defense Firm

Government

Educational Organization

37%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Rational DOORS?

The traceability matrix in DOORS improved our project outcomes. It helps ensure coverage of requirements at different levels, from user requirements to software requirements to test requirements.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Rational DOORS?

Over the years, the first version cost something around 5800 euros.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM Rational DOORS?

Compared to today, DOORS' competitors also excel in this discipline. Yet the price is too high. It's often not as generic as it used to be. IBM promised to find a way for a generic format that allo...

See all answers

Is Jira better or would you go with Micro Focus ALM Octane?

Hi Netanya, Basically , it all depends on the use cases for your environment and the business needs. Hope the below data may be relevant to you for identifying your needs and deciding on the approp...

See all answers

Which is better - Jira or Microsoft Azure DevOps?

Jira is a great centralized tool for just about everything, from local team management to keeping track of products and work logs. It is easy to implement and navigate, and it is stable and scalabl...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Jira?

We operate under a nonlimited license with Jira, allowing a number of users to access it with a single enterprise license.

See all answers

Comparisons

Jama Connect vs IBM DOORS

Compared 24% of the time

Polarion Requirements vs IBM DOORS

Compared 24% of the time

IBM DOORS Next vs IBM DOORS

Compared 11% of the time

OpenText Dimensions RM vs IBM DOORS

Compared 5% of the time

PTC Integrity Requirements Connector vs IBM DOORS

Compared 5% of the time

More IBM DOORS Competitors

Microsoft Azure DevOps vs Jira

Compared 13% of the time

OpenText ALM Octane vs Jira

Compared 8% of the time

Polarion ALM vs Jira

Compared 6% of the time

Rally Software vs Jira

Compared 6% of the time

Codebeamer vs Jira

Compared 4% of the time

More Jira Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM DOORS

June 2025

Download IBM DOORS product report

Buyer's Guide

Jira

June 2025

Download Jira product report

Also Known As

Rational DOORS

Jira Software

Overview

IBM Engineering Requirements Management DOORS (DOORS) is a Requirements Management (RM) software designed to help organizations manage engineering project requirements throughout the development lifecycle. It provides a central location for capturing, defining, and organizing project requirements, facilitating communication and collaboration among stakeholders like engineers, system designers, and customers. Key features include requirements traceability, version control, and impact analysis, ensuring effective implementation and testing. DOORS improves efficiency, enhances communication, reduces risks, and supports better decision-making through clear visibility into requirements. Compared to its newer, web-based counterpart DOORS Next, the mature DOORS 9 offers a wider range of features with a traditional user interface but lacks web-based functionality and modern integration with IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) tools.

IBM

Jira is a powerful cloud- and subscription-based application lifecycle and issue management solution. It is designed to aid users both in project management and in resolving any issues that arise at any point in the software development process. It is especially concerned with easing the ability of developers to collaborate.

Jira Benefits

Some of the ways that organizations can benefit by choosing to deploy Jira include:

DevOps lifecycle visibility and planning. Jira provides application developers with tools that enable them to track and visualize where they are in the development process. This means that a DevOps team can measure their progress at all times. Jira’s roadmapping feature also enables a DevOps team to work more efficiently by setting goals for their projects, keeping them on track. Additionally, they are able to track whether they are meeting the goals that they set for their projects.

Regular product updates. Atlassian is constantly updating Jira so that it is continuously evolving into an ever more powerful and user-friendly solution. Users can be sure that the product that they are using is always being tweaked so as to provide them with the best possible project management solution.

Flexibility. Jira enables users to customize their workflows and dashboard so that the solution is operating in a way that best matches their needs. Jira can also integrate with more than 3,000 other applications and integrations. Organizations can use it to expand their project management and DevOps capabilities in many different ways.

Jira Features

Security capabilities. Jira is equipped with a number of useful security features. It gives administrators the ability to restrict access to certain tools so that only users who are authorized to complete certain tasks have access to the tools related to the completion of that task. Users can also set default permissions so that only particular users can work on new projects or particular projects.

Real-time notification feature. Users can set Jira so that it offers them notifications that contain critical information in real time. It can send users email notifications when pressing issues have been updated. They can also set it to notify them about tasks that may be due, or other similar events.
Activity log. Jira has the ability to track any and all changes that are taking place within the software framework. Users can keep a close eye on everything that is going on. This promotes a high level of visibility and can be leveraged to aid developers in their collaboration efforts.

Reviews from Real Users

Jira is a powerful solution that stands out when compared to many of its competitors. Two major advantages it offers are its workflow engine and its highly customizable dashboard.

Bharath R., the tool implementation and project management lead at a financial services firm, writes, “I feel the strongest feature of Jira is its workflow engine. It empowers us to automate our workflows within our organization. It's the one characteristic of Jira which I think can help any organization, be it in any domain.”

Uday J., a staff engineer at a computer company, says, “Another thing that I like a lot about Jira is that in the dashboard, you can plug the modules that you want. You can enable certain sections. For example, you can show trend history, open Jira tickets, etc. Some of the managers have created a dashboard for each engineer.”

Atlassian

Sample Customers

Infosys, Chevrolet Volt

Square, Nasa, eBay, Cisco, SalesForce, Adobe, BNP Paribas, BMW and LinkedIn, Pfizer, Citi.

Buyer's Guide

IBM DOORS vs. Jira

June 2025

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